Shoe



E. F.l SELZ. SHOE. .APPLICATION FILED NOV-5| |917.

1,333,787. Patented Mar. 16,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET '1.

10 9 lo ii 9 E. F. SELZ.

SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 5, 1911.

Patented Mar. 16, 192.0.

2 vSHl'ETS--SHEET 2- EMANUEL F. SELZ, OF'CHICGO, ILLINOIS.

SHOE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

.Application filed November 5, 1917. Serial No. 200,234.

To all whom t may concern.' Be it known that I, lEMANUEL F. SELz, a

citizen of the United States, residing at- Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

In walking, the great toe grasps the ground, exercising its natural prehensile function, and by this action tends to arch the inside of kthe vfoot and Ito roll theouter portion downwardly7l and inwardly. The outer portion of the foot, from the heel to the little'toe, and the portion extending across the toes to thel great toe and inner ball of the foot are therefore. the portions that normally sustain the weight of the body. In a yielding surface these portions of the sole of the foot would therefore sink somewhat below the level of the portions on the opposite, inner side, and the position of the foot in such Aa bed or footing is anatomically the normal and natural one. In the conventional form of footwear now in use,l however, the vamp or upper clamps the stiff and unyielding sole, which is of pniform thickness and broader than the `foot, flat against the sole of the foot, in

which position it would naturally stand inclined somewhat upwardly from the outer toward the inner side, were it not forced by the weight of the body to a horizontal position when the wearer stands or walks; the result being'that t-he foot is caused to roll more or less over on to its inner side, into an abnormal position. The strain which .is thus thrown on the inner arch by the weight of the body weakens it, and

sooner or later is apt to cause :it to 'break or fall, producing the condition known as broken or fallen arches. Whether resulting in actual physical deformation or not, the

strain is a frequent sourceofpain and irritation of a serlous character.

Attempts have been made heretofore to shank of the foot. My present invention,.

on the contrary,.is based primarily on the idea of relieving the. inner arch by throwing the weight of the body as much as possible on the outside arch. Theobject of my in-V vention, therefore, is the production of a shoe of such form and construction as to cause the weight of the body to be more largely thrown upon .the outside arch of the foot, correspondingly relieving the in- 'side arch and affording a more natural and anatomically correct position of the foot;

-which will enable the foot to describe'its natural-movements and function properly in walking, which'dispenses withartilicial ments of the saine'being pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure l is a horizontal section of a left-foot shoe embodying my inv vention immediately above the sole thereof and on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;` Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 (shown for purposes ofcomparison, a corresponding section of a shoe of ordinary construction: Fig. 4 is a crosssection on the line 4 1 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 5

a corresponding cross-section of a shoe of ordinary form; Fig. 6 is a cross-section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1 and Fig. 7 a corresponding section of an ordinary shoe; Fig. 8 is a view of the innerside of a vleftfoot last formed for the construction of my new shoe; Fig. 9 a bottom plan view ofthe same; and Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 cross secti'ons on the line 10-10, llll, 12-12, 13-13 and 111-14, respectively, of Fig. .8.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts on all the figures of the4 drawings. v

Referring first to `Fi. 8 to 14, Iwhich illustrate a last formed for the construction of my improved shoe, it will be seen that as compared with a last of ordinary and usual curved longitudinal protuberance or swell indicated on Fig. 9 by the-shaded area 1. rlhe inside of the last is cut away, beginning slightly at the middle of the back of the heeland increasing until the cutting away becomes quite marked at the inner corner of the heel. The bottom surface of the last is preferably, though not necessarily, slightly convex, which in the shoe results in the formation of a shallow socket orseat for the heel, this socket being somewhat i11- clined from the horizontal and highest on the inner side at the front of the heel. For-1 wardly of the heel the last is hollowed' out more than usual on the inside of the shank, the hollow extending well up to the inner ball. The portions of the last cut away are indicated by the stippled area 2. The portion 8 shown in Fig. 9 is not prominent, as in certain lasts already known, and may protrude either slightly or not at all from the adjacent bottom surface. It results from these variations that as a whole the inner portion of the last, especially at the forward portion of the arch and diminishing rearwardly, is cut away more deeply than is usual, and the opposite or outer side is more prominentthan in the ordinar last.

By means of a last modeled as above described my improvedf shoe is made accord- .ing to well-known methods of manufacture,

by lasting the insole 5, upper 6, lining 7, and welt 8, snugly to the last, stitching them together, filling the space within the sewing rib 9 of the insole andL intermediate suoli insole and the outer sole 10 with a suitable i filler 11, and securing the outer sole to the welt in theusual manner. In. lasting the shoe vthe insole of course is made to conform accurately to the contour of the last and the effect of building up the outside of the lastis to form a depression or pocket 12 alo the outside edge of the shoe, into whic 1 the foot may sink. The thickness of the filler l1 varies to compensate for the depression and provide a uniformly curved seat upon which the outer sole113 of ordinary form is seated.

The effect of cutting away the inside of the heel of the last as described is to elevate the forward inner side, of the heel of the shoe, near they frontof the heel seat, more than usual, the elevated area (marked 14) affording support vertically up the median line of the leg `tending to some vextent to restrain the heel from sliding forwardly fin the shoe, and also acting to tilt or roll the foot into the depression or pocket along the outer edge. (compare Figs. 2 and 3) the heel 15 is higher from its horizontal base on the inner Side of the shoe than the outer side, to su port the sole of this portionrof the shoe 1n the inclined position which is given it by the cutting awayYY of the inside and the building up of the outside ofthe bottom of As4 shown in the drawings,

affording a slight but ieXible support thereto. i

It is evident that in a shoe thus ccnstructed the foot will seat itself in its normal anatomical position, and as far as may be will function just as it would if unshod. The shoe will have no tendency to roll the foot inwardly down on to the inside arch, twisting the angle to anpunnatural position and giving a sidewise wrench to the metatarsal arch and imposing an excessive strain on the inner portion thereof, resulting in serious painful disorders or deformation of the foot, such as are inherent in footwear of ordinary and usual construction.

I claim: v

1. 'A shoe having the upper surface of the inner sole formed with a depression extending along'and adjacent the outer edge thereof, said depression being confined substantially tothe outer portion of the sole, and the inner portion of the sole in the region of the ball of the great toe being raised with respect to said depression and substantially which receives the toes and the ball of the` great toe.

3. A shoe the surface of the sole of which is provided with a raised portion substantially at the inside front portion of the heel with a concave depression extending along the outer edge of the sole and substantially horizontal portion at the inside portion higher than said depressed portion and upon which the ball of the great toe rests.

4. A shoe the surface of the sole ofwhich is provided with a raised portionlsubstantially at the linside front portion ofthe heel and with a raised shank merging into said raised portion at the inside of the heel and with a concave vdepression extending along EMANUEL F. SELZ. 

